Oklahoma Landowners Cash in on Groundwater Rights

Oklahoma Landowners Cash in on Groundwater Rights

Article excerpt

A Canadian County landowner launched a new business venture on
Tuesday: water sales and marketing. The landowner said he's just
catching up with his neighbors, who have already begun to capitalize
on their groundwater rights as water resources in the region
continue to increase in value.

Members of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board appeared somewhat
reluctant to approve the water use permit for Joe Anderson Property
Management Company LLC, but could not find a thing wrong with his
application from a legal standpoint.

State law and agency rules allow Oklahoma landowners the right to
pull about two acre-feet of water per year for each acre of land
they own, though the board may allocate more or less than two acre-
feet in certain areas where studies have confirmed the basin's
maximum annual yield.

Anderson owns enough land to justify the allocation he requested.
There is no reason to believe water pulled from the property will be
wasted. Anderson plans to sell the water to a municipality, which
falls under the board's definition of a "beneficial use." And his
plans to sell the water within his county do not violate any state
laws.

"So if we don't like it, we've got to change the rules," said
board member Richard Sevenoaks, just before voting to approve
Anderson's application to pull 320 acre-feet per year for the
purpose of selling the water.

Anderson owns 160 acres in southwestern Canadian County, which he
rents to ranchers. The cattle have access to water from a nearby
stream that does not run dry even in severe drought conditions, said
Anderson. The land's groundwater resource has gone virtually unused
until now, he said.

Anderson's application was a bit unusual in that most landowners'
applications anticipate some personal or agricultural use, while
Anderson's stated purpose was to sell the water to municipalities -
though he doesn't have any customers lined up yet.

"Can we say this is a 'beneficial use' when there is no user?"
questioned board member Ford Drummond. The board's attorney, Dean
Couch, said the agency is concerned only with how the water is to be
used, not with who will use the water, so it doesn't matter if
Anderson does not identify the end user of the water in his
application. …